Page 56 of Shielding Instinct

“His name is Roy,” Hawkeye told his teammates as they moved up.

Reaper’s voice boomed out, “People who are, at this point in time, ready and able to render CPR, raise your hands.”

Halo was already arranging Roy into position, bending Roy’s leg, pulling his arm long, and with Hawkeye pushing the shoulders and Halo pulling his hips, they rolled Roy onto his side.

“You four.” Reaper’s finger traced around, tagging the people he’d chosen. “Come forward.”

Hawkeye laid the towel under Roy, then he and Halo rolled him onto his back.

With a Cerberus brother at each corner—and a “One. Two. Three. Lift.”— they transferred Roy onto the surfboard.

It was a struggle to stay focused on this moment, knowing that there may well be seven people fighting for their lives in the water.

Together, the team shifted the surfboard onto a shoulder. Without handles and for fear that someone’s grip would slip on the slick surface, this was the safest configuration, though it reminded Hawkeye of the dancing pallbearers he’d seen in Ghana.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Hawkeye thrust it away.

The Cerberus men passed behind Reaper, who was addressing the volunteers. “The CPR team is exhausted. If you’rewilling, we need to supply CPR on the way to the hospital. The driver will be going slow and steady to get you there, but you will be in an open, moving vehicle. Only agree if you are comfortable with that situation.”

Every second counted.

All four fell in behind Roy and followed the team to the pickup, where the men used the towel to transfer Roy into the bed.

With surfboard in hand, Cerberus jumped out of the way.

The CPR team climbed in and got right back to work.

Cerberus was in motion, hustling back to the beach.

During that brief time away, two missing boat crew were located and helped back to the staging site.

“Five unaccounted for,” Reaper said.

“Five,” the men repeated.

“Take your boards. The waves and rip currents have clouded the waters. That’s going to make rescue and recovery more difficult. If you’re confident that your dog can function here like they did on the Potomac—since we were just training this—take your K9 with you. If you’re not a hundred percent sure, leave your dog in my care.”

What Reaper left unsaid was that “rescue” was the term used for the living, and “recovery” was the term used for a body.

The training they’d been doing for weeks on the river, was the dogs' ability to perform water searches, finding a human scent under the water. Of course, the dogs had been working by leaning over the edge of a boat, not balanced on a surfboard.

The team needed to move fast to have any hope of finding the missing five.

Alive would be amazing.

But even if dead, retrieving the bodies would bring closure for the families and loved ones.

The sea was vast, and the conditions treacherous, but Hawkeye and Cooper raced into the waves, determined.

Chapter Nineteen

Hawkeye

With Cooper running at his heels, Hawkeye dashed toward the waterline, the surfboard under his arm.

Hawkeye knew his dog.

When they were in mission mode, Cooper was the tip of the spear. He intuited the need and acted.

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